


The Dreamcatcher

by Choi_Aya05



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Don't Overthink This, Horror, Inspired by Pull Me Up by Jane Zhang, M/M, Supernatural Elements, ambiguous ending, it probably failed, or at least an attempt was made
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:42:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26139847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Choi_Aya05/pseuds/Choi_Aya05
Summary: Brian woke up in the living room of the pension house they were staying in, disoriented, hugging a pillow to his chest. When had he napped on the sofa? Wasn't he supposed to be on his way with Jae for dinner?Where was Jae?
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Jaehyung | Jae, Mentioned Park Jaehyung | Jae/Yoon Dowoon
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17
Collections: Day6 OTPs





	The Dreamcatcher

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative title: Finding Jae
> 
> I'm actually quite excited for this, so even tho I just posted something, I'm posting again.  
> It's my first ever try at horror! ✧\\(>o<)ﾉ✧ But I think it's less horror and more weird. Just weird. Yep. I hope you're not expecting much 'cause oh boy. You're in for a... ride???
> 
> Please see end notes for (possible trigger) warnings.

Brian woke up in the living room of the pension house they were staying in, disoriented, hugging a pillow to his chest. When had he napped on the sofa? Outside the windows were light blues turning navy with the approaching night. Wasn't he supposed to be on his way with Jae for dinner?

Where was Jae?

He shot up, skimming the area. The lights were flickering abnormally slow, as though the electricity couldn't decide whether to have an outage or not.

Where was Jae?

He was holding something.

He looked down; in his grasp were shards of glass. He instantly let go, puzzled yet relieved that none of them managed to cut him.

What the fuck?

A drop of liquid on the table jarred him from his thoughts, followed by another. The drizzle quickly became rain, soaking everything, soaking him.

Wait-- _rain_?

He lifted his gaze, seeing the rain seemingly falling from the... ceiling?

_How the hell--?!_

The temperature made a significant drop. The hairs on his body stood. The awful feeling of something about to go wrong, the progressively growing anxiety for something yet to happen but he felt-- _knew_ \--would happen... what was it? What was about to go wrong? How would he proceed? _Escape_?

He was simultaneously lost and trapped.

A movement against his chest made him look down. His necklace, the one Jae had given him on his twenty-fourth birthday, floated up, as if someone was lifting it for a close inspection of its Turquoise pendant.

But there was no one in front of him.

His heart missed a beat and he was frozen in his spot.

A wave of water washed by his feet caused him to jerk away. He jumped up to the loveseat, assessing: was he dreaming? But he just woke up. Was it a dream within a dream?

A lucid nightmare?

Everything was beyond odd--it _had_ to be a dream.

The sound of water splashing, like waves crashing to the shore, made him look behind and up. On the walkway of the second story, lined by wooden railings, were actual _waves_.

His breath hitched. _What the hellwhatthehellwhatthehell--_

By now the flood on the floor had risen, almost licking on his bare feet still planted firmly on the cushions of the sofa. But underneath it--he squinted.

There was light under the water.

He glanced back for the last time, at the water starting to gush down like falls, threatening to crush him, mind blank and helpless and _fuck it._ He dived.

He flailed for a bit in the biting iciness, scrambling to position his body the right way. Then he began swimming down.

Down, lower, and lower still, yet the light only seemed to get farther away. It couldn't have been this deep, an impossibility, but it _was_. All that had been happening were outside the realm of reality and they still happened.

Why? _Why?!_

He kicked harder, swam harder.

Where was Jae?

His chest seized from suffocation, his motions gaining a desperate edge.

What was happening?

A surge of hope: the light seemed nearer, _finally_. He extended his arms out as far as he could, and pulled himself up with all his might--

His hands touched something solid and smooth and he grabbed on, hauling himself up and out of the--bathtub?

He gasped for air, each intake more painful than the last, until it stopped hurting. He was in the pension's bathroom, the wallpaper a pretty swirls of blue and white in an imitation of waves. Just adjacent to the living room he had been in. On his legs splayed a dreamcatcher, a familiar one.

The one Sungjin had gifted Brian as a souvenir from a vacation. The one Jae had suggested to be in his car instead of his bedroom, happily tying it to his rear-view mirror last year. Brian recalled Jae's toothy grin, presenting his work to Brian with a little _ta-dah_ , followed by a giggle.

_"Pretty, right? I told you!" Jae gave the thing a tiny affectionate push with his forefinger. "Let's only catch the nice dreams, okay?"_

Brian's chest tightened though it had nothing to do with almost drowning.

Where was Jae?

Footsteps echoed in the living room, the room Brian had supposedly swam away from. He turned to the open door to see--

"Jae," he breathed out, still a bit feeble from exhaustion.

Jae stood in the middle of the living room, staring at him with an empty expression; the one he made when he was hurt and attempting to conceal it, one that Brian hated to see on him.

"Jae," he called out once more, firmer and louder. Water cascaded down his figure, making his white shirt and dark slacks stick to him when he stood. He stepped out of the tub, pulse sped up when Jae turned away and walked out of his line of vision without a word. "Wait, wait, _Jae_ \--!"

The once impeccable room was a mess: books strewn everywhere carelessly, the lamps thrown to the floor, the tables disorganized.

Instead of water, it rained ashes, delicately descending from the ceiling like autumn leaves.

The room was void of Jae.

Brian's heart plummeted, fear fully sinking in its claws and keeping him in place. His limbs refused to cooperate, his breaths short and shaky and shallow. Beneath his heated skin circulated cold blood.

He still didn't have a damn clue what was happening, didn't know the why and the how.

A lamp lying on the floor suddenly burst into flames. Soon enough, the whole room was burning.

Sweat rolled down his temples and nape, tickling and uncomfortable and too frigid for his hot skin. His eyes squeezed tight, fists balled tight. Nails dug painfully in his palms.

The pain didn't woke him up.

Smoke was steadily filling his lungs and now he suffocated for a different reason.

_Jae_ , his mind cried out, _Jae where are you what's happening please help me please helpmehelpme--_

He opened his eyes with a start at the sound of a thud. On his peripheral was a body clad in an oversized beige cardigan and light washed ripped jeans, curled in a fetal position with their back facing him.

Jae.

He forced himself to take a step, and another, and another. His heart beat in his throat, worried and relieved, scared and weary.

He lowered himself to one knee and cautiously touched Jae's shoulder. "Jae?" He timidly muttered. It yielded no results, and Brian felt all the more distressed. He gave the shoulder a gentle shake. "Jae, _please_."

With a gulp, he carefully rolled Jae to his back.

Brian hastily backed away with a choked scream.

Blood oozed from the gashes that ripped Jae's clothes and skin, slowly painting the wooden floor red. Shards of glass in various sizes were _embedded_ into his flesh, into his once smooth _face_. His unblinking eyes stared straight through Brian's soul, empty and lifeless--

Eyes that once held all the stars in the galaxy, that blinked away the grogginess in the morning, twitched in confusion, glinted with mischief, glared in annoyance, shone with tears--

Lifeless.

Jae was dead.

_"No!"_ Brian screeched, before covering his mouth. The backs of his knees hit the single seater couch and he fell on it heavily, mind racing and trying to catch up with everything that had been happening.

His necklace hovered in the air again, catching his attention. This time, he saw a steering wheel in front of him. And then he was in a car.

And he remembered.

_"This is nice," Jae commented wistfully from the passenger's seat, watching the scenery pass by in a blur. Outside, rain beat down the windows, creating a lulling rhythm._

_"It is," Brian replied, eyes ahead, knuckles white around the steering wheel. A little uneasy. Jae noticed; of course he did._

_"What's wrong, Bri?"_

_He sighed. "We just--you--we barely hang out anymore."_

_"Oh, Bri," Jae started, tone adopting a remorseful note. "I'm sorry. Work's been really, really hectic since the promotion. I haven't even touched my guitar for_ weeks _, can you believe--"_

_"You sure do have time for Dowoon though," he bitterly grumbled before he could hold back. Jae fell quiet. Tension rose in the small enclosed space._

_"I..." Jae trailed off in hesitance. He released a breath, laden with guilt. "I'm sorry." And Brian realized that Jae knew._

_Had known Brian loved him the way he couldn't reciprocate._

_"You knew," he flatly pointed out. The pendant of his necklace seared his sternum like a painful brand._

_Jae shifted in his seat. "I do," he answered softly._

_"Since when?"_

_"Since... since--I had my suspicions back when Jinseok hit up on me in highschool and you stopped talking to him, even though you got along with him. It was the only reason I could think of, but I didn't want to assume. Then Sungjin said you got so drunk you thrashed your room four months ago, the day after Dowoon and I announced our r-relationship."_

_"And you didn't say anything."_

_"I couldn't."_

_Brian turned to Jae, to his love, and saw the tears ready to fall with one more blink. In the darkness of the rainy evening, those eyes stood out with the way they twinkled. Beautiful even in their sadness._

_"How can I?" Jae continued, pleading for Brian to understand. "What do I even say?"_

_"Anything!" Brian snarled, making Jae flinch. "What about me, Jae? While you go about your merry way with your_ boyfriend _," he spat, anger escalating with each word, "pretending that you don't know how much you're hurting me--do you even care about me at all?" His voice broke, and he could feel that his heart did too. All over again, like always, because Jae had never seen him that way. He never would._

_Because Dowoon had something Jae couldn't see in Brian._

_"Brian, please,_ please _can we talk about this later? When we're not driving?"_

_Brian's fingers tightened further on the wheel, but he didn't argue, returning his focus on the road._

You were supposed to be mine, _he thought. He wanted to sob._ Why couldn't you be? Why wouldn't you be? I love you more than Dowoon or anyone else ever could. I've loved you for longer that he does. You were mine, Jae.

_Brian gritted his teeth._ You're mine. Forever.

_In the corner of his eye, on the road, he saw a flash of white. He blinked._

_Something--_ someone _was now blocking the road._

_Someone who was_ him _._

_His gaze locked with_ himself _and his breath caught._

_"Brian!" Jae had shouted, but Brian's ears were ringing. He was stepping on the breaks and steering the wheel in panic._

_The car skidded to the side, rolling from the force through the slippery road. Rolling and rolling, each second lasting for an eternity._

_Then it stopped._

_The world ceased._

_And Brian was falling._

_He was falling; his stomach was swooping from the sensation, but it was almost pleasant, like a thrilling dip in a rollercoaster ride._

_He was falling, and then his back met something soft, akin to a bed._

Brian's eyes fluttered heavily, at the men in uniform surrounding the gurney, up to the night sky. It had been so clouded before, but now the stars winked at him, and they reminded him so much of Jae.

Jae.

Where was Jae?

A boy with curly black hair, donning a white sweater, was explaining something to what seemed to be an officer. It made sense; Brian could hear sirens, although it sounded muffled. Everything did. Not that he cared. Everything hurt. He had to find Jae.

But where was he?

_"I'm here,"_ came the answer.

Brian woke up in the living room of the pension house they were staying in, disoriented, hugging a body to his chest. He leaned back the slightest bit to see Jae curled up against his side, looking up from where his face had been buried in the junction of Brian's neck.

"What's wrong?" Jae's brows furrowed. His palm on Brian's chest moved in soothing circles, above where his heart steadily beat. Calm.

"Nothing," Brian said. He adjusted the arm Jae was lying on to hold him better, pull him closer. Around them, the lights were flickering abnormally slow. He could feel shards digging all over his skin, along with the drizzle lightly soaking him. He smelled something burning, mixing with the sharp scent of iron.

But nothing mattered, not anymore.

Jae was finally in his arms.

He closed his eyes.

  
An item on the ground piqued the interest of a boy with curly hair in a white sweater. He picked it up: a dreamcatcher. He smiled, amusement dancing in his gaze.

"How pretty."

**Author's Note:**

> Possible trigger warning: Blood and Injury, Obsessive Behaviour, Possible Character Death
> 
> I didn't wanna put them up because I think they're spoilers.
> 
> I swear, this monster wrote itself. And in one sitting. I didn't even really understood it, I just interpreted it when I was editing (read: I spun a bullshit to try and justify this). So if you're having trouble comprehending this: don't worry, me too. But I did came up with an "interpretation" for this (and for the MV tho I'm not sure how accurate it was).
> 
> Check out Jane Zhang's Pull Me Up MV, it was what made me wrote this. Such beautiful vid, catchy music (for me at least lol).
> 
> PS: so sorry for not tagging Major Character Death because they might not actually be, you know? Maybe it's a temporary thing. Maybe it really is for forever. Who knows? Tell me 'cause I sure don't.
> 
> Ah! A mini game for you: where was Wonpil?


End file.
